Title

Authors

Submitting Campus

Prescott

Department

Physics and Astronomy

Document Type

Article

Publication/Presentation Date

11-6-2015

Abstract/Description

In this essay, we examine the response of an Unruh–DeWitt (UD) detector (a quantum two-level system) to a gravitational wave background. The spectrum of the UD detector is of the same form as some scattering processes or three body decays such as muon-electron scattering or muon decay. Based on this similarity, we propose that the UD detector response implies a “decay” or attenuation of gravitons, G, into photons, γ, via G+G→γ+γ or G→γ+γ+G. Over large distances such a decay/attenuation may have consequences in regard to the detection of gravitational waves.

Publication Title

International Journal of Modern Physics D

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1142/S0218271815440174

Publisher

World Scientific

Additional Information

This essay received an Honorable Mention in the 2015 Essay Competition of the Gravity Research Foundation.

Dr. Jones became affiliated with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University before this paper was published in its final version.